Originally Posted by
KayPam
If you only train your manual flying when conditions are easiest, will you really be ready for the day you will have an AP failure + any condition less than ideal ? Be it weather, traffic, or any other, but if you have an AP failure that will be due to some technical problems so workload would be at least high. I'm not saying pilots should only train in unduly hard conditions (at some time in the past, it used to be done, instructors simulated failures with pax on board to train a newbie like me), but restricting to easy conditions is maybe not completely enough, you could at least go to average conditions with a medium workload.
Just imagine talking to a passenger, what is more reassuring ?
- If the conditions are all easy, I decide fly the plane manually, but if there is a bit more workload I prefer not to.
- In normal conditions I usually fly manually
I agree with your disagreement with
Uplinker. Just because it's windy or IMC doesn't mean the AP/AT should be used. I actually think those are the best times to fly raw data. Stay sharp. Now if it's overcast at 200ft, obviously, we'll just be doing a CAT2/3.